from the coal and dirt, and still greater was the labor of cleaning all
the mechanism and putting everything once more in an efficient steaming
condition. But all was finished soon after the decks had been completed,
and on October 12 she was ready for sea. On the following day she was
floated off and started on her perilous voyage to Halifax, using her own
engines, and making about five and a half knots an hour. Her steam pumps
were by this time all ready for service to assist the big ones on deck
in an emergency. She anchored once on her way round, at Shelburne, on
the coast of Nova Scotia, arriving at Halifax at 1 p.m. on October 17.
The trip round was a very anxious time for all hands, more especially
when they were overtaken by a fresh gale in the Atlantic, for the
forward deck was very liable to be burst up with the increased pressure
on it caused by the pitching of the ship; also the rudder was entirely
unable to bear any strain on it, because the lower part of the rudder
post was unconnected with the stern post, part of the stern framing
which connects the two having been broken off. Any heavy sea was
therefore likely to carry away the rudder altogether, or the same
accident might happen if the helm was put down too hard, rendering the
ship unmanageable.

She was placed in dry dock as soon as she arrived at Halifax, and it was
not until then that the full extent of the damages, caused by the
pounding on the rocks, could be fully realized. The first 20 feet of the
keel had been torn completely out, and about 30 feet from the stern
there was an immense hole, with the thick plates torn and bent like
paper, the framing and stanchions being twisted into all sorts of shapes
almost beyond recognition. Under the foremast the bottom of the ship was
bent up in the form of an arch, having been raised 4 feet above its
natural position, with an immense hole punctured on the starboard side,
besides several smaller ones. Also the aftermost 20 feet of keel was